In Which Raia Is Exposed to a Different Sort of Taste

August 17, 1169

Raia didn't often think twice about her siblings' need to jump on furniture--indeed, it was a guilty pleasure in which she herself occasionally indulged--but she wasn't sure whether or not she ought to pull Riona and Vera off the couch and force them to behave. On one hand, Viridis had been ill for the past week or so and was still looking rather pale, and an undisturbed couch would have been more suitable for her than Falidor's desk chair; on the other, the two younger girls seemed to be irritating their Aunt Laralita, who was seated beside them. The real question was whether or not her aunt's vexed expression was worth her sister's comfort.

Judging by Viridis's own grin, however, she did not care to be moved if it meant that the Queen might return to her usual nagging, smug self.

"I don't think I'll ever understand it," Falidor muttered as he watched the two bounce atop the cushions. "I've ever seen any other children do that."

"Just wait until those 'twins' of yours get a little bigger," jabbed Nora in response. Falidor's jaw dropped and even Raia had to raise an eyebrow; she was privy to the knowledge that most of Falidor's children weren't actually his and was well aware of Orrick and Senwick's suspected paternity, but the comment seemed to aim a bit below-the-belt. Then again, Nora had been a little edgy these past few days--today in particular, though the better part of it still lay ahead of them.

Seeming to realize this, Nora sighed. "Sorry, Falidor. It's just--"

"Stop pulling my hair!"

"He's not pulling it--he's combing it! It's hardly a form of torture!"

"Tell that to my scalp!"

"Oh, stop your whining! You come from a silky-haired family; it's about time someone actually let that mane of yours reach its fully potential!"

Raia glanced toward the door to her father's bedchamber and shook her head. "They seem to be having fun in there."

"Indeed, what man doesn't love getting all prettied up for mass courting session occurring against his own will?" added Falidor dryly; Raia snickered, despite Nora's obvious lack of amusement.

"I still can't believe you brought your valet!"

"I still can't believe you don't have your own!"

"Why do I need one? I'm thirty-six years old; I'm perfectly capable of dressing myself!"

"Severin, if you want to make yourself worthy of one of these ladies, then you're going to have to stop doing all this servant work for yourself!"

"Servant work?" Nora repeated with a grimace as the king continued to scream at Raia's father in the next room. "Since when does dressing oneself fall under the category of 'servant work'?"

Falidor beamed down at her. "A little rich coming from you, seeing as you were a lady's maid until she died."

Raia shrugged. "It's different with women. Men don't have all the laces in the back and whatnot; they can manage more easily on their--"

"Roderick, there is no chance in hell that I'm going to wear that!"

"I didn't come here to put up with your fussiness; you will wear it, and that's final!"

"You can't make me!"

"Yes, I can! I'm a king, damn it! You will wear whatever I tell you to wear, and I'm telling you to wear this!"

"I hate you so much right now!"

After exchanging a quick glance with a narrow-eyed Falidor, Raia tossed back her head and laughed. "Do you think we want to know what exactly it is the king wants him to wear?"

Nora gave a dismissive wave of her hand. "I don't."

"I'm a little curious," Falidor admitted. "I suspect Florian will be sorry he missed this."

Raia was barely able to stop herself from snorting at the thought. "I insist that you don't tell him about this unless I'm there to see his reaction."

The steward's eyes flickered as an amused grin crossed his face. "How can I refuse that smile of yours?"

She opened her mouth to tell him not to try, but couldn't get a word out before her brothers strode into the front room from their father's bedchamber, Jadin in the lead while Searle and Lonriad trailed behind. "I trust you all could hear everything?"

"And then some," Nora confirmed with a roll of her eyes. She then crossed toward the couch and took the two younger girls by the hand, allowing them a smooth dismount.

As Lonriad shut the door behind him, Raia turned to Jadin, who had made his way to her side. "Is it as bad as it sounds?"

"Worse." He pushed a stray bit of red hair out of his face, then grimaced. "Try not to laugh; let the man keep any dignity he might have left."

"That goes for all of you," Searle stressed, glaring specifically at Riona; the girl replied with a look of mock-innocence.

The bedroom door creaked open once more. The room's occupants scurried to get a view, whether by the queen's graceful ascension or Riona's skirt-threatening gallop. Making room for Jadin and Nora, Raia scuttled toward the wall and stared forward.

Keeping a straight face had never been such a struggle. Most of her siblings were trying in vain to stifle smirks; Nora even choked on a laugh, raising her hand to disguise it as a cough. Raia glanced back at Falidor, also grinning like a goon. Only her Aunt Laralita seemed to find nothing humorous about the sight of Raia's father, looking satisfied rather than amused. Figured--she did have strange tastes, after all.

"Well?" asked the king, leaning back to the shut the door as the other man tried to make a mad dash back into the bedchamber.

Raia couldn't take it anymore; if nothing more, she had to at least smile. "Father, you look--"

"--wonderful!" Aunt Laralita finished for her--of course, Raia had meant to say 'ridiculous', but to talk over the queen was to defy the laws of physics. "Oh, Severin, you look so handsome! So... kempt!"

Really, the only thing Raia's father looked was embarrassed. It seemed to her that he was only being kept in place by the conflicting desires of lunging forth to strangle the king and retreating back into the privacy of the bedroom. She didn't think she'd ever seen him with his hair combed out, and she wasn't sure she liked the effect; it had been parted in what must have been intended as artfully uneven, but only served to magnify his forehead to unbelievable proportions. He was wearing some sort of silk robe, possibly the most vibrant shade of blue that Raia had ever seen, held together with a couple of pins and a wide cloth belt. Beneath that was what appeared to be a maroon tunic, trimmed with the same gold as the robe, the collar fastened with a gold clip sporting a polished blue stone as a most conspicuous centerpiece. It sat slightly askew, as though he had tried and failed to remove it; she wouldn't have been surprised if that was the case.

"It's not that bad, Father," Lonriad tried to assure him. "Just make sure to tell them that you don't make a habit of dressing like that."

Their father scowled. "Thank you for the advice, Lonriad."

The youngest brother glanced back at Viridis, who was easily the most sensitive of the seven of them. Folding her hands, she smiled sweetly and took a different approach. "Mother would have liked it."

"Oh, she's probably rolling around on her cloud in unrestrained laughter right now," he sighed as the king pushed his way through the crowd to join his wife. "Really, Roderick, what the hell were you thinking when you picked this out?"

Raia looked back to catch the king sneering in her father's direction. "I'll have you know they're all the rage in Dovia!"

"Well, as far as I'm concerned, they can stay there."

Jadin rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet and grinned. "Well... at least it's a conversation piece, right? If nothing else, it might help weed out some of the less desirable candidates."

Nora nodded in agreement. "If any given one of them likes it, then under no circumstances should you choose her."

"Point taken."

"I think you look handsome, Father," Riona swooned sarcastically, swaying back and forth to the sing-song beat of her own voice.

Their father raised an eyebrow. "Riona, what do I always have to tell you about lying to me?"

Raia couldn't see Riona's face, but she didn't doubt that her sister was wearing a wide smirk. Meanwhile, Vera ran up to their father and swung her arms around his neck. "I love you, Papa--even if you do look silly."

He chuckled as he lowered her to the ground at the hug's end; it was a relief to see him smiling. "I love you too, baby--and that goes for the rest of you as well."

Vera skipped off back to the couch, leaving her father to embrace each of his children in turn. Lonriad, Viridis, Riona, Jadin, Searle... at last, only Raia remained.

"You look nice today," he told her.

Feeling a little annoying, Raia sniffed. "Wish I could say the same of you."

A relented spark in his eye, he shook his head and pulled her into a tight hug. "Funny."

Raia made a point of not giggling often, but she indulged herself this once. "Love you, Father."

"Love you too, angel."

He released her after a minute or so, then turned to Nora, who had appeared at his side. "Yes?"

"Nothing," she insisted with a shrug. "I just figure it's a relief that at least he never made you shave."

"God help us all if he had," Raia's father agreed with a controlled snicker. "Anyway, might as well get this over with; they're all in the sitting room?"

"Yes," the queen answered on Nora's behalf, taking the king in arm and pushing her way through the double doors. "This way, my lord."

He inhaled deeply, then closed his eyes and stepped between Raia and Nora, around Falidor, and to the door, which had swung back into a half-shut position. He placed his hand upon it, took a few seconds to collect himself, then pushed it forward.

"...oh dear Lord."

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